How long for ground beef in the fridge?

[ASusan]

I bought 5 lbs last week and haven't done anything with it.

Is is over? Would it still be safe for burgers or pasta sauce?

[34me]

There's a good chance it's funky. Because there are so many surfaces exposed to oxygen with ground beef it gets funky pretty quickly. poke a tiny hole in it and smell it.

[SophieAnn]

Is there a date on it?

Is it packaged in-store (i.e. on styrofoam tray) or is is in a tube?

If it's in a tube, it might be okay, since there's so much less air (only the air inbetween the meat). If it's in a styrofoam tray/packaged in-store then what does the date say?

I'd err on the side of caution with meats.

[cristeen]

For non-vacuum packed meat, a week, tops.

[ASusan]

Yeah, I think it's going out. It's store packaged from the meat counter. I'm sorta afraid to even open the (spare) fridge that it is in.

Can I put it out for the crows? My grandmother used to put meat out for crows...

[inkslinger]

If it doesn't smell funky I wouldn't worry about it. I wouldn't go much longer, though!

[ASusan]

I put it out for the crows (or vultures - we have them around here) on a 3-acre piece of land we have out in the country on the way to work today.

It didn't seem to smell at all, but I knew I couldn't get to it today, and it's been a week.

[vegmom]

I just finished reading a book on probiotics. Lactic acid found in whey, yogurt, krauts, natural pickles actually destroys e-coli, salmonella, dysenteriae, diphtheriae within 1 hour - 24 hours.

I would hate to throw out so much meat. If this happened to me I would take some plain yogurt, strain it to get the whey (about a cup or more) and mix my meat in it and leave it on the counter for 24hrs. Then make some chili.

[OceansEve]

if it didn't smell funky you probably could have eaten it. That is the rule of thumb my meat market tells people. Even if its after date, long as it doesn't smell and you aren't eating it raw, you are good. Then again I get my meat from a place that doesn't add all the junk to make it look pretty and last longer, so I dunno about mass market meat.....

[Equuskia]

I've used ground beef that's been a week in the fridge. I'm still here